With Labour Day this weekend, everyone is relaxing for the last splurge of summer. School is starting (or has started) and thoughts turn toward organising your financial life for the next year. How much is school going to cost? What will I do down the road when John or Lloyd want to go away for university? What happens if they need extra equipment? I want my children to have what I did not.

Here are a few items to think about (and to get you started toward achieving a financial goal). Even reaching one goal, however small will turn your mindset outward to the bigger picture. And a small goal is achievable! People tell me all the time they know they should sit down and do up a budget, but it takes time, time and motivation they often are too tired after daily living to think about.

Also, I can't tell you the number of times that people approach me and say, I really want to get into the market and buy some stocks. How do I do that? It all seems so easy; figure out whether the stocks go up in the winter and down in the summer and off you go. The best answer that I normally state is can be one way to start securing your financial future, but why risk your money on a process that you know little or nothing about? LEARN THE SMALL FINANCIAL THINGS Increase your financial knowledge! Everyone can. Never underestimate yourself.

If you can figure out the rules of cricket, bingo, plotting off a course in a small boat 10 miles outside the reefs of Bermuda, and never, ever forget the plots of some soap operas, you can learn about finances. March yourself to the nearest book/magazine store or library and start reading! Pick up SmartMoney, Money Magazine, Investing for Dummies, The Millionaire Next Door, Living the Frugal Lifestyle, The Wall Street Journal, Barrons. Don't want to spend the money alone, get a couple of friends involved. Start an investing information exchange group. Start a simple living lifestyle group at your church. Don't want to spend the money? Borrow from the library, or pool your money with a group of six friends. That way each of you only spends about $5.00 per month.

Money magazine is a huge favourite of many. It is written for you the investing consumer. It is full of advice, traps, and tips on taking charge of your financial environment. It regularly features real people (no, they are not all rich) who have sought help in refining their finances and bringing a balance to their lives. Yes, I know it is written for the United States Investing Public, but let's face it except for the taxes, Bermuda is almost the US investing public. Every single page is packed with advice, information and places to find more, i.e. Websites, etc. Wait, you say, I have not been using the Internet. Team up with a friend and start. Split the cost of tuning into some of these terrific information centres. Take a course at the Community Education Centre; their courses start soon for the fall. Learn, learn and you will earn your financial future AND increase respect for your disciplined self.

CONTROL THE SMALL FINANCIAL DECISIONS It can be terribly frustrating and depressing to feel that you are getting nowhere with your financial goals. Set small ones. Just for a month, skip buying coffee, tea, snacks, and lunch out. Count up that small change at the end. Not so small now, is it? Get that amount into a statement savings account. Before you know it, you will be able to purchase a few shares of stock, either local or onshore. There are several Websites that allow you to purchase very small amounts of stock, $20 at a time purchased at a low cost commissions. BuyandHold.com is just that. You are thinking for the long-term.

Take a look at your employer's pension. Can you afford to gradually increase your voluntary contribution over time, even at one-half percent a year? Even if you are not investor savvy, your pension administrator and money managers are experienced professionals charged with handling your account to the best of their financial abilities, which are considerable. Is that a goal worth achieving? You bet. Will you really miss that money? No.

INVOLVE YOUR FAMILY IN SMALL FINANCIAL CHOICES Let's face it, it is tough today raising children. Fashions are expensive.

Everyone wants their own cell phone, Gameboy, Motorbike, Fubu, and Nike shoes.

And no matter how many bricks you put on their heads, they keep growing. Our mother raised seven children on an extremely limited budget (to put it mildly). We always had to keep one pair of shoes for good. Trouble is by the time good came, the shoes sometimes no longer fit. She spent many hours scheming to cut corners. Everything was homemade, much to our humiliation many times. Once she made these patchwork pants from scraps of recycled material.

We hated them! Funny how they are stylish today. Our input of soda and candy was strictly limited. We all found jobs as soon as we were tall enough and we fought serious battles with her over the right to buy what we wanted as she insisted on taking more than half our earnings away to place in a savings account. She was a fierce advocate of always purchasing at bargain prices.

Sounds like she was a saint. She wasn't, but today I have tremendous admiration for her confidence and commitment to bringing us up the best way she could. I know that the hardest part of adopting an alternative (simple) lifestyle is that you become just a little different. To children, wanting to fit in with their peers, that is extremely tough. They don't become proud of being individuals in their own right until much later.

Have a family cooking night with a specific amount limited to spend. Ever try making your own pizza? Give each person in the family the challenge of preparing part of the meal. You'd be amazed at how creative everyone can be.

Challenge the family to create one outfit entirely from the secondhand stores.

Recycle with friends. Don't throw anything out without considering a second use. (OK, garbage goes, but how about composting on some tomato plants?) Necessity is the mother of invention. Set at time and dollar amount for a vacation. Challenge everyone in the family to save for it by economising.

Reach that goal and you have found money to put away for a rainy day.

ACHIEVE THE SMALL FINANCIAL VICTORIES It means running against the tide. It is certainly the delayed gratification we all hate to participate in. We work hard, we want to look good now, have the latest now, and let's not think about the future. Making a deliberate decision to choose financial security can be the toughest you will ever make.

Shopping at rummage sales, homemade instead of store bought, make do, use it up or do without can become very, very tedious and tiresome. Your children may rebel. You have to recognise every day that you are the leader in your family group and that you can be responsible for your financial well-being and lead the way to inspire others. This role can be hugely rewarding, too, because in taking this path you are creating a value system for your family based upon working together.

Know that you can only do your best, it is the best you can do.

*** Readers, I am looking for frugal living tips to use in future columns. Please participate by sending in your favourites. If you want your family to be mentioned in the column, let me know. Otherwise, as always, any reader inquiries are kept strictly confidential.

Enjoy your weekend. Do something for your body, mind, and soul.

*** Frugal living reading: The Tightwad Gazette Websites: simpleliving.com frugalliving.com members.aol.com/maryfou/tightwad.html *** At the frugalliving.com Website, there are hundreds of articles and chat discussions; among them the frugal family network; the dollar stretcher, do-it-yourself, confessions of a yard-sale fanatic, frugal at any age, consumer addictions and success stories.